Articles, Notes & Squibs

The Trouble With Holidays If You’re A Writer (Or Live With One)

Most writers want to write. They don’t like interruptions to their writing routines. However painful it is to sit in front of a laptop or computer staring at a blank screen, it is more painful NOT to be sitting in front of your laptop. It is especially painful when you can’t stick to your writing routine because, yes, for sure, that is precisely the time when you feel you would be doing your best work.

If you’re a writer, you know where I’m heading with this because the season is upon us, and the big question becomes : How to keep writing without upsetting family and friends during the five to six weeks from Thanksgiving through Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas and New Year’s Eve? Continue reading “The Trouble With Holidays If You’re A Writer (Or Live With One)”

So You Think You Can Be A Journalist? It’s Not That Easy

Twice this week I was flummoxed, maybe even a little miffed, by things I heard about the craft of writing (specifically screenwriting) and journalism (specifically investigative journalism.) In the latter case, I received an email from Brad at MasterClass and this is what it said: “Bob Woodward Teaches Investigative Journalism.” In the email trailer, Woodward promises to teach students how to research,  gather information, interview people, and how to find the story and build the story. Wow! Continue reading “So You Think You Can Be A Journalist? It’s Not That Easy”

A Week (of edits and revisions) In The Sun

Sometimes, it’s good to have a change of scenery — even if your writing has to come with you. I’m into edits and revisions on Book 3 at the moment. It’s a stage that lends itself particularly well to lounging around with your pages on a beach chair under a shady umbrella with an ocean breeze wafting in to keep the sweat from dripping off your fingers onto the paper. So here’s my week with pictures: Continue reading “A Week (of edits and revisions) In The Sun”

Why Literary Agents Asked For – Then Rejected – My Novel : One Author’s Story

You’ve finally typed “The End” on the fifth, seventh, tenth draft of your manuscript. It’s as good as you can make it. Now what? As most writers know, finding a literary agent is the necessary first step to getting a novel published traditionally. But finding an agent is as difficult, if not more so, than finding a publisher — as any literary agent will tell you.

This week, Mandi Bean, an author I met at the Algonkian Author-Mentor workshop earlier this year, contributes this guest post describing in superb detail exactly how she found four literary agents to ask for and read her full manuscript — and what she learned from the torturous process: Continue reading “Why Literary Agents Asked For – Then Rejected – My Novel : One Author’s Story”

The Year I Earned More Money From Gambling — Not Writing

It was 1991. If memory serves correctly, it was March of that year when my husband, Joe and I won $28,000 in one night of playing blackjack at the Mirage in Las Vegas. I had just started writing my first novel, Scandal because “isn’t that what you’ve always dreamed about doing?” my husband had asked pointedly as I rattled around our new Boca Raton mansion. It was the first time in my journalistic career I was without a regular staff writing job, having quit my associate editor position with TV Guide to move with my husband and son, Danny to Boca. Continue reading “The Year I Earned More Money From Gambling — Not Writing”